


Wish You Were Here

by SoftLullaby



Series: Rise from the Ashes [2]
Category: Jessica Jones (TV), World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Child Murder, Mind Control, Non-Sexual Slavery, Other, Sexual Slavery, Slavery, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 22:15:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12467096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftLullaby/pseuds/SoftLullaby
Summary: Annwyl fought. She always fought the control. But this time, there was no escape.





	Wish You Were Here

 

> _So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain._
> 
> _Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?_
> 
> _A smile from a veil?_
> 
> _Do you think you can tell?_
> 
>  
> 
> _Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?_
> 
> _Hot ashes for trees?_
> 
> _Hot air for a cool breeze?_
> 
> _Cold comfort for change?_
> 
> _Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?_
> 
>  
> 
>   _How I wish, how I wish you were here._
> 
> _We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year,_
> 
> _Running over the same old ground._
> 
> _What have we found?_
> 
> _The same old fears._
> 
> _Wish you were here._

 

"Oh, Annie. I really wish it could have been different. But you have left me with no choice."

Annwyl stood, frozen, rooted to the spot. His compulsion had left her incapable of moving, unless it was to breathe. She was to stand there, her undivided attention upon him. Inside, a part of her railed against the control he held. She still held out hope that she could break free, given enough time.

"I know what's going on in that mind of yours," Alistair said softly. "I know what you're trying to do. I can see it, every time I give you an order." He stepped close to her, reaching out to brush a fingertip along the curve of her chin. "You fight me. There is a… hesitance. It seems… I need to do something to disrupt it."

He turned away from her then, whistling shrilly. The sound echoed through the large, nearly empty warehouse the two of them occupied. Soon, though, the room began to fill. A handful of people stepped inside, and Annwyl felt her heart thudding in her chest.

All were human. She did not need magic to tell her that. They were innocent, mundane human beings - sleepers, ignorant of the darker, insidious hierarchies built on top of their city. It broke her heart to see them filing innocently into the building.

"Meet my entourage," Alistair said, dramatically sweeping his arm in a gesture toward the group. "Well. One of them, anyhow. You see, Annie…" He dropped his arm and turned back to face her, stalking toward her with a smirk on his lips, "...I have many of these scattered about. Not just here. People who are simply… going about their lives. Until _you_ do something stupid."

She blinked softly as she stared at him, fighting hard against his supernatural tether. It seemed that the harder she fought, the deeper it dug into her.

"Stop fighting," he said, and it was a dark, dangerous tone. "I mean it. That is what I'm trying to tell you. If you _keep_ fighting me, these people will suffer. And believe me, that is not something you want to see happen."

Annwyl went completely still as a small child entered the room. She was African, with curly black hair tugged into twin pigtails on either side of her head. She wore a pair of jeans, a pink Hello Kitty shirt, and a pink hoodie over that. She carried something in her hand, and just the sight chilled her blood in her veins.

It was a remote detonator, and not the sort anyone had to push a button to trigger. No, this was the sort that you simply had to drop. And the child's fingers were the only thing keeping it from going off.

"You see, Annie," he said, approaching the small child, patting her head gently, "if you disobey me, or even so much as try, I will end this entourage. But it will be a chain effect. I have many groups like this, in many locations. All over the country. So you cannot possibly hope to save more than one group."

Despair filled her and she finally relinquished her fight. It was over. He had won, she had lost, and the only way to keep him from harming even more innocents… was to do as he commanded.

_Somebody, please,_ she begged of no one in particular, knowing the plea would fall upon deaf ears, _help me…_

 

>   _How I wish, how I wish you were here._
> 
> _We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year,_
> 
> _Running over the same old ground._
> 
> _What have we found?_
> 
> _The same old fears._
> 
> _Wish you were here._


End file.
